According to a Senate Finance Committee investigation report, executives of Gilead Sciences were already aware in 2013 that their plan of increasing the price of a new hepatitis C drug will give rise to public outrage. Despite knowing this fact, the company went forward with the strategy to increase price of the drug, it showed.

Gilead Sciences got federal approval for its drug Sovaldi in late 2013. The company settled the price of $84,000 for a 12-week course of treatment.

According to the internal documents, the company knew that the high price will deliver the right balance: i.e. value to shareholders while also not so high that insurers would ‘hinder patient access to uncomfortable levels’.

The company faced huge outrage from the public, a backlash from government and private payers, and political scrutiny.

Later, 18-month Senate committee investigation reviewed over 20,000 pages of the company documents. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who co-led the investigation with Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), in a news conference, said, “The documents show it was always Gilead’s plan to max out revenue, and that accessibility and affordability were pretty much an afterthought”.

Gilead Sciences, in a statement released on Tuesday, disagreed with the conclusions listed in the investigation report. It said that the price of the drug was in line with the previous standards of care.

The company highlighted that it has several programs that help insured patients and people who need financial assistance for their treatments. So far, over 600,000 patients around the world have been treated with the Gilead’s hepatitis C drugs since 2013, according to the company.